There have been many forms of automated cutting machinery in the textile industry, different forms of machines being arranged to cut on signals from different conditions in, or characteristics of, the fabric to be cut. Some apparatus has been provided for reading a very loosely woven portion with electric eyes or the like as a means for determining where to cut, printed patterns have been read through means of reflected light, and special threads have been woven into fabric to be readable by various apparatus. In general, if the fabric to be cut does not have some such special feature to be read by a piece of machinery, the fabric has to be cut purely on the basis of length, or the fabric has to be cut by hand, an inspector determining the cut-line on the basis of a visual inspection of the goods.
In the manufacture of terry towelling, the individual towels are woven in a single long piece that is wound into a roll, and the individual towels must be subsequently severed for appropriate hemming as completed towels. It is conventional in the manufacture of terry towelling to weave the body of the towel of terry cloth, and to have one or more decorative stripes of a non-terry weave at each end of each towel. Between each pair of contiguous towels there is a cutting space of a non-terry weave. The usual method is to cut the strip of towelling transversely, along the centerline of the non-terry cutting space. This leaves non-terry material on each towel to provide the appropriate hem. Obviously, if the material is cut on a bias, the individual towel will have to be squared off, then hemmed, resulting in a shorter towel than is desired, and perhaps insufficient non-terry material to allow the desired hem. Further, those skilled in the art will realize that terry towelling inherently has unbalanced tensions across the width of the towelling so that both the decorative stripes and the cutting space are not straight. Thus, not only must the appropriate cutting space be located, but also the cutting space must be straightened transversely before the cut is made.
The prior art mechanized apparatus for cutting towels has taken the form of means for holding certain areas of the terry towelling in conjunction with means for gripping and moving other sections of the towelling to align the terry material transversely and achieve a straight line across the fabric. After the line has been straightened, cutting means sever the non-terry cutting space. While this device operates adequately, it is very slow, and it is very expensive both to purchase and to maintain. Also, the prior art apparatus is not well adapted to the cutting of inexpensive terry fabric in which the terry fabric is not suficiently bulky with respect to the non-terry fabric. The prior art also includes a semi-automated cutting apparatus which is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 3,318,179 issued on May 9, 1967, to Norman E. Elsas. This patent discloses means for measuring the length of fabric as the fabric is fed along a path; then, at the time the fabric is to be cut, holding means engage one edge of the fabric. An operator then grasps the opposite edge of the fabric, aligns a filling thread with the cutting means, and actuates the cutting means. This device is not well adapted to the automatic cutting of terry towelling because there is no means for placing the cut-line at the cutting means, and of course an operator is required for the transverse alignment and cutting.